THE SPEED OF MOTOR CARS.

Evening Star, Issue 13091, 26 October 1908, Page 2

THE SPEED OF MOTOR CARS.

AN EXPERT OPINION. Mr S. P. Edge, the well-known motor rn.-mnfac4.urer aoc) racing expert, said in the course of a recent interview that the present. Motor Act is An ateordity. The motor car had without doubt come to stay. Every year tho machines were getting cheaper, and if the roads were' made to suit the cars one couki bo produced at £IOO. Such a car would bo capable of carrying four passengers at a speed of twenty-five miles an hour, and tho running cost would be about id per mile. He said emphatically that it was not possible to impose a time limit. “But I would prohibit,” he went on to say, “ driving at a pace dangerous to the public. The entire onus for accidents should, in my opinion, be placed on tho car-drivers, and I would impose the severest possible penalties in cases of accidents, but, of course, all those using tho road should be made aware of the rules of tho road and compelled to observe them. Look how often a cyclist or someone in charge of a horse and trap comes out of a side road on to the main highway without any signal of approach, proceeds across tho road, and thinks be has a grievance against some motorist who has almost run him down. It is no pleasure for a person in charge of a motor car to run anyone down, and if more attention was paid to tho regulations governing the road we would not hear of go many accidents. Motors are condemned for the speed they travel at, but it was for rapidity that they were introduced—to enable a man to do more in a given time than he bad ever done before. If a man is to sit like a South Sea Islander under a cocoa tree, and be content with what comes to him, then there is mouse of cars, bicycles, or trains; but if we arc to accomplish more than we have done hitherto, then motors are essential. In a sliqrt time it will be a cruel tiling for a man to drive a horse yoked to some heavy vehicle along the road. It is no use agitating against motor cars, because they are growing in popularity. Those who object to them are cither old-fashioned or ignorant, and those who speak of restricting the speed to fifteen miles an hour have never been in a car. For instance, notwithstanding the accidents that occur to ocean liners aim the great loss of life frequently resulting, people do not hesitate to use them. The same applies to motor cars. Look what they have done for the country. They have opened up districts that would never have been reached otherwise, and the value of property has risen accordingly. In tho course of time those in a position to awn a cur will leave the large cities and reside in the country, a thing they would not have been able to do liad motors not been introduced. Tliere was no difficulty in conserving the safety of pedestrians, as the latter were now quite reconciled to this modern mode of locomotion. The advantages of the motor car aro being recognised more fully every day. and the ranks of their opponents aro dwindling away. Of course, there will always he some objectors. We are on the ervo of flying, I think, ami that, too. will meet with opposition. No advance has been made without criticism, and it is only because motoring is as yet something of a novelty that it has its opponents. Cars arc becoming more and more numerous, and when everything is suitable we will be able to sec what motors were really intended to be.”